Commercialization Fund

This proof of concept fund has been established to support translational research and inventions created at VCU that have the potential to be commercialized and benefit society.  

Innovation Gateway will award up to $50,000 per project and up to $150,000 in total as part of the Fall 2018 Commercialization Fund. The awards are intended to de-risk and advance VCU inventions to a more mature stage and thus improve their chances of being out-licensed and brought to market.

What does the Commercialization Fund support?

The funding is intended to enable VCU inventions to reach an inflection point and a more mature stage of development. Funded tasks will be performed by or under the supervision of the PI, but may also include a third-party efforts within or outside the university. The projects will be funded to meet agreed upon objectives. Funding will be based on milestone completion. 

Criteria for funding

  1. The work must be directly related to a completed invention disclosure submitted to VCU Innovation Gateway prior to the submission of the funding application.
  2. The proposed work is expected to make the invention available to the public faster in the form of a new product or a service.

Types of work that could be funded:

  • Prototype development
  • Generation of data (animal data, etc.) for marketing of the invention
  • Development of new applications for a disclosed technology
  • Minor software coding and user interface work
  • Other work at the discretion of VCU Innovation Gateway

Types of work that will not be funded:

  • Technologies not disclosed to VCU Innovation Gateway
  • Technologies that are ready to be optioned/licensed to a company 

Scoring criteria

The Proof of Concept Review Board will evaluate proposals based on the following criteria. Please note that strong proposals will need to reach completion in 12 months or less.

  1. What is the market need for this product and does the applicant have a clear understanding of the opportunity?
  2. What is the technical risk associated with the project and does the applicant have a clear understanding of that risk?
  3. Are there clear development milestones for the project that are associated with a realistic timeline?
  4. Evaluation of the team
  5. Is there a clear budget with transparent and efficient use of funds related to the milestones?
  6. What is the general strength of the proposal and potential of the technology, including potential for intellectual property protection?

Questions

Please e-mail questions to ott@vcu.edu or reach out to one of our Licensing Associates.